PR story
Following his studies in the fields of communication, computer science and psychology, in the mid 90s 
Achim von Michel laid the foundations for WORDUP Public Relations in Munich. Up until 1998, he initially worked exclusively for the Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (BLM) – the regulatory authority for commercial broadcasting in Bavaria. From 1995, he worked as a PR officer for Bayerische Medien Technik GmbH, a subsidiary of the broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk and the BLM.
From 1998, he developed WORDUP into an international full service Public Relations Consultancy in Munich.
This page is a historical reference as it covers data before the year of 2020.
PR agency for digitalization
In 1999, PR consultant Achim von Michel initiated the annual European Digital Radio Conference, which last took place in 2003 with over 200 participants from 18 nations in the City Hilton Munich under his direction. Cooperation partners such as WorldDAB, DigiTAG, the British BBC and the Initiative Marketing Digital Radio (IMDR) put this event at the center of the global DAB and DVB-T scene. With specialist publications and PR projects for the Technical Directorate of Bayerischer Rundfunk and Bayern Digital Radio GmbH, among others, WORDUP has been accompanying the digital broadcasting scene for over two decades and has played a key role in the transition from “analog” to “digital”, for example at the start of DVB-T in Germany or in the 5G TODAY research project, during which the project partners Bayerischer Rundfunk, Institut für Rundfunktechnik, Telefónica, Kathrein and Rohde & Schwarz decided to use the new FeMBMS standard for broadcasting media content for 5G end devices via high-power High tower (HPHT) transmitters tested.
Innovation in information technology have been a focus since then. WORDUP managing director Achim von Michel brings sound IT knowledge through his minor degree in computer science and many years of intensive involvement with Internet technologies, SEO / SEM and social media in the consulting mandates. Companies such as the world’s leading manufacturer of storage solutions Network Appliance (NetApp) or American Power Conversion (APC), as well as Smapper Technologies or INSYS Information Systems, relied on the service provider’s very high level of text competence when creating customer newsletters, mailings and company presentations.
The Voith subsidiary 
Ray Sono AG carried out all press work by WORDUP PR for almost four years. The online marketing division of Schober AG Switzerland then enriched the portfolio. WORDUP also successfully advised the Salzburg company Cooperational Excellence, which started an innovative, web-based cooperation network. The US startup SimpliVity (company value at the time: approx. 100 million dollars) approached WORDUP in order to anchor the advantages of hyper-convergence solutions in German medium-sized companies.
With the increasing amalgamation of financial services with IT-based solutions (FinTech), the digitization know-how of WORDUP is now also consistently used in other subject areas.
industry projects / aerospace
After initial experience with aerospace manufacturer MTU Aero Engines, WORDUP received a major contract from the aircraft industry at the beginning of the noughties – the accompanying press work and public relations work for the rollout of the 728 regional aircraft from FairchildDornier. Around 500 guests and journalists from all over the world attended the presentation of the last Dornier jet in Munich-Oberpfaffenhofen.
Deutsche Telekom AG also relied on the specific topic know-how of WORDUP in the context of the introduction of the digital broadcast technologies DAB and DVB-T with its subsidiary T-Media Broadcast. The Munich consulting company TWS Partners AG – European market leader in the field of game theory and behavioral economics – trusts the competence of WORDP in the media presentation of industrial auctions (e.g. 5G license auctions) and global purchasing negotiations.
For some years now, WORDUP has resumed the network that was spun early in the aviation industry and advised, among others, the traditional and internationally active aerospace parts supplier Aircraft Philipp Group. The Lithuanian specialist for air passenger rights SKYCOP has also been part of the agency’s customer base for two years and further consolidates the know-how that has grown in the aviation industry. As part of a more extensive assignment by the parent company Avia Solutions Group (group turnover in 2018 around EUR 420 million), the Munich PR agency now also advises the subsidiary KlasJet and the international specialist conference airconvention in Vilnius.
innovation / intellectual property
As well since the early noughties, another complex of topics has consistently complemented the field of activity: innovation, copyright and intellectual property. On behalf of the former President Dr. Ingo Kober, Achim von Michel set up a new communications department at the European Patent Office (EPO). The farewell to former EPO President Prof. Alain Pompidou with 500 invited guests in the All Saints Court Church was planned and implemented by WORDUP. Regular projects in the area of internal communication made the agency a reliable service provider for the EPO for more than eight years.
After that, WORDUP was the European PR service provider for the international patent translation service provider MultiLing Corp. headquartered in Provo, Utah. For over eight years, WORDUP PR also oversaw the entire press work of the collecting society VG WORT. As well for around eight years, the Munich-based Patentpool Group relied on the expertise of WORDUP. Four times, WORDUP PR accompanied the German Institute for Invention (DIE) organizationally and in press work in organizing the oldest German innovation award – the Rudolf Diesel Medal.
For over six years, WORDUP has been in charge of German-language press work (DACH) for the US company Anaqua, which offers innovative IT solutions for patent management and is one of the world’s market leaders. This also includes the conception and implementation of a top-class series of events on current issues of patent protection, which has already been staged eight times in Munich, Stuttgart, Paris and for several times in the digital space during the corona pandemic.
These and other projects on behalf of GEMA, the German Patent and Trademark Office, the Federal Ministry of Justice and industry luminaries such as Wurzer & Kollegen have made the agency a recognized PR expert in this area.
fintech / financial services
Financial services and FinTech are another main focus: The spectrum ranges from the specialist for automated credit solutions afb Application Services AG, through the August Lenz Bank (Mediolanum Banking Group), the manufacturer of automated trading systems Ravenpack AG, to banking IT specialists like C1 Fincon, Cadis and capFlow AG, which focusses on financing.
Before its successful sale, WORDUP was responsible for press work for yavalu, the largest German provider of listed funds (ETF). Targeted investments by medium-sized companies were the topic of the investment company Lehel Invest Bayern (LIB). With the offers from Lehel Trade Partners (LTP), WORDUP also addressed the issue of pre-order financing.
The PR agency transported specialist content from Asia to the German-speaking market for the Klako Group (today: Köhler Services). With the introduction of the new Payconiq payment system, WORDUP supported an ING Bank spin-off in a pioneering FinTech project in a PR campaign. In addition to traditional media, influencers and social media channels also played a central role.
With the growth financer Blue Cap AG from Munich, a listed company enriched the customer portfolio. SHS Viveon AG, which is also listed, is one of the newest customers. It has set itself the task of significantly simplifying the management of financial and regulatory risks for companies with one comprehensive IT platform.
PR & lobbying for the Mittelstand
Active business communication in the globalized world requires a high degree of networking in target groups and media. As the Bavarian press spokesman for the Federal Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (BVMW) in Bavaria, Achim von Michel has been in the public eye for more than 15 years as a political and journalistic functionary of the largest association of medium-sized companies, which speaks for more than 900,000 voices. As a representative for politics, he also conducts regular interviews in the main news of Bavarian television and gives lectures and keynotes, e.g. at the internationally renowned German Society for Foreign Policy, in the Bavarian State Parliament and with Munich’s mayor in Munich City Hall.
For four years, WORDUP was responsible for the global press work for the medium-sized automotive supplier Schlemmer Group from Poing near Munich with more than 3.000 employees worldwide. The family company from the construction industry Krieger + Schramm, relied on WORDUP for its expansion into the Munich area and successfully carried out the DYNAHAUS research project there – a pilot project for a single-family home that generates more energy than a family of 4 living in it consumes – implemented jointly with the Technical University of Munich, BMW, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and other partners. The support of the traditional company Neschen Coating / Filmolux from Lower Saxony at the Global Print Expo FESPA in Munich is also one of the highlights from medium-sized companies.
WORDUP has been underpinning its broad SME knowledge in this area for around ten years in its independent online magazine Mittelstandinbayern.de, which reports on political news and economic developments in medium-sized companies on a daily basis.
cultural, social & charity projects
WORDUP also makes its consulting services available to culturally and socially active companies and institutions on a regular basis – mostly at significantly reduced fees. Successful cultural projects include advising the Karl Böhm Foundation for highly talented musicians, providing local press support for musical highlights from concert promoter BB Promotion and establishing and positioning a summer theater academy in Switzerland. Another highlight was the social integration project of the Institute for Applied Cultural Education (IAKB) at the municipal Willy Brandt Comprehensive School in Munich. In the area of social projects, WORDUP can also look back on a collaboration with the Lauterbacher Mühle Foundation and the German branch of the international aid organization Médecins du Monde.
For several years, Dr. Robert Pfleger Foundation supported by WORDUP with extensive press and public relations work as part of its medical award ceremony in Bamberg.
The social support network DEIN NACHBAR e.V. was also advised by the Munich-based public relations specialists in the context of its establishment. Extensive media reports, including in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, impressively reflected the enormous social relevance of the topic of “caring for the elderly”.
The subject of art, which enriched the PR agency very early on with the renowned exhibition of world-famous artists “23 artistes pour Médecins du Monde” (limited prints by Rauschenberg, Tapies, Lichtenstein and many others), is as well still relevant. With Fu Wenjun, the Munich art fair ARTMUC recently welcomed a renowned Chinese artist for the first time, who was represented in the media by WORDUP.
event planning & live promotion
Successfully planned and implemented large-scale events, including the participation of retired Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (symposium on intellectual property in the Deutsches Museum) and Munich’s mayors Schmid and Reiter (regular reception for medium-sized businesses in Munich’s town hall) also make WORDUP a creative and reliable partner for events, press conferences, congresses and other high-level events. Last but not least, this included the event planning and implementation as well as the entire press work for the annual awarding of the Diesel Medal in the presence of over 200 guests from politics, business, culture and the media in the hall of honor of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The farewell of the President of the European Patent Office Alain Pompidou in the Allerheiligen Hofkirche in Munich with around 500 guests marks the largest event conception and implementation so far.
The latest example is an exclusive series of events for the US company ANAQUA on the subject of patent management in Munich (Künstlerhaus), Stuttgart and Paris.
With the start of the corona pandemic, WORDUP consistently relocated the ANAQUA conference and other events to the digital space – depending on the occasion and budget, either via established digital conferencing media such as ZOOM, WEBEX or TEAMS, or using professional studios and streaming technologies as a high-resolution and secure transmission webcast with several speakers and for several hundred participants. WORDUP is are also successfully relocating press conferences and expert discussions to the digital space on request and consistently using the evaluation tools of modern conferencing systems in order to be able to offer reliable statistics about participants and interactions for its clients.
In short: PR excellence since 1994.
